Charles Douglas

Charles Douglas, 1st Baronet of Carr (1727-17 March 1789) was a Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy of Great Britain during the War of the Austrian Succession, Seven Years' War, and American Revolutionary War.

Biography
Charles Douglas was born in Perthshire, Scotland in 1727, and it was known that he could speak six languages as a youth. At the age of twelve, he joined the Royal Navy of Great Britain, but also spent some time in the Dutch Navy. During the War of the Austrian Succession, he took part in the siege of Louisbourg in 1745 and also took part in the capture of Newfoundland. He also took part in the 1758 siege of Louisbourg, having been promoted to lieutenant in 1753, and in 1759 he was made Commander. At war's end in 1763 he commanded HMS Syren, but a year later he headed to the Russian Empire to organize the Russian Navy.

During the American Revolutionary War, Douglas was sent with a fleet of British ships to relieve the city of Quebec from Patriot siege in 1775, and succeeded. In late 1776, he destroyed a makeshift American fleet under General Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Valcour Island, and a year later he fought in the First Battle of Ushant. During the 1782 Battle of the Saintes, he had the idea of splitting the French fleet in half, which won his superior Admiral George Rodney the victory. Douglas was made commander-in-chief of North America in 1783, and in 1787 he was made a Rear-Admiral. He died of apoplexy before taking his post at the Halifax (Nova Scotia) station in 1789.